The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), says it was partnering with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and well-meaning Nigerians exterminate vote-buying and corruption.
According to The Guardian, the anti-corruption agency also called on government agencies and their employees to step up efforts toward ensuring corruption-free public service.
A Board member of the agency, Olugbenga Adeyanju, stated this during a two-day zonal training for executive members of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Units (ACTUs) of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the National Ethics and Integrity Policy (NEIP), Constituency/ Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI), and a round table dialogue on Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (EICS).
At the event, which was held at the Conference Hall of the ICPC office, Ibadan, Oyo State, Adeyanju who said that even if corruption could not be totally eradicated, it could be reduced by 99 per cent, stressed that the essence of the gathering was to imbue in the people, through the MDAs, the need to fight corruption and restore “our lost values to improve on our orientation and move the country forward generally.”
“Ordinarily, it is not possible to eliminate corruption outright because we are not born the same way; we don’t have the same behaviours, and we are not from the same family. We cannot totally eradicate it, but we can get 99 per cent compliance.”
Asked if the ICPC was willing to work with the EFCC to complement its efforts in ensuring that vote-buying is reduced to the barest minimum, he said: “Yes, we will not only cooperate with EFCC but with everybody; we will cooperate with all Nigerians to ensure that corruption is minimised.”
Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, whose speech was delivered by Adeyanju said: “In our estimation, the ACTUs have been, and would continue to be a vibrant tool of diminishing corruption in the public service of Nigeria, especially at the federal level. We on our part, will continue to build the capacity of ACTUs to enable them to achieve the mandate for which they were established. It is for this reason that we organised this training, and a round table, which will take place across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“The round table will provide all of us -ICPC and ACTU the opportunity to take stock, share experience and evaluate our journey so far in the deployment of the Ethics and Integrity Scorecard within the service to appreciate arrears of strength and vulnerability so that we can make adjustments in areas where indeed we need to up the ante in the war against corruption.
